DETERMINANTS OF NEWS SELECTION: A STUDY OF THE DAILY GRAPHIC

0
338

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

     Introduction

News selection has always been an integral part of communication research. While it seems to be beyond dispute that selection has to take place in order to reduce the complexity of the process of collecting and assembling of news for distribution, ―the criteria for the process are subject of a continuing debate‖ (Eilders, 1996: 1). One of the research traditions concerned with the problem of news selection is news value research. Media and communication scholars and practitioners concede that the news stories which are eventually broadcast or published go through a gatekeeping process during which journalists, copy readers and editors assess their (the news stories‘) newsworthiness using news values. During this process, Shoemaker (1991: 2) says that the news gates, which are different decision-making points in a communication channel, open, close or are ajar for certain news items.

News selection takes place irrespective of the medium used whether print  or electronic. The

criteria for selection may depend on a host of factors. Kunczik (1988) traces the history of gatekeeping in terms of news values or criteria by which news is selected. Kunczik concludes that in 1676 Christian Weise advocated news values selection based on strict differentiation between  truth  and  falsehood.  Daniel  Hartnack  in  1688K(ucintcezdiki,n 1988)  stressed  the importance of an event and its consequences as the basis for selection. Two years later, Tobias Peucer (Kunzick, 1988) submitted a dissertation in which he argued that since not all available information could be published by a newspaper, only news worth remembering and knowing

must be deemed publishable. Among the list of items Peucer considered worth publishing were strange signs, storms, floods, terrible thunder storms, earthquakes, new inventions or discoveries, war and peace enterprises (kunczik, 1988). Peucer‘s selection of news worth publishing meant, in effect, the rejection of what could be deemed unenticing issues or those that were not worth remembering including routine matters.

Contributing to the issue of news selection, Kasper Stieler in 1695 identified news values such as newness or novelty, geographical proximity, consequence/implications and prominence as well as negativism (Kunczik, 1988). He also stressed that newspaper writers should be capable of selecting the important from the trivial (Kunczik, 1988). In a classical study, Galtung and Ruge (1965) proposed a list of news values that can be used to assess the newsworthiness of news items. By far, the most commonly cited list of news values is that of Galtung and Ruge (1965; Harcup & O‘Neill, 2001). Galtung and Ruge‘s 12 criteria are as follows: frequency, threshold, unambiguity, meaningfulness, unexpectedness, continuity, compositional balance, elite nations, elite people, reference to persons and reference to something negative (Fowler, 1991: 13).

Many lists of news values/criteria have also been suggested by media researchers and journalists since then. For example, Denis MacShane (1979: 46) subdivided newsworthy events into the following categories: Conflict, Hardship and Danger to the community, Unusualness, Scandal and Individualism. Harcup and O‘Neill‘s (2001, cited in Brighton and Foy, 2007) study of the printed press resulted in their attempt to revise and update Galtung and Ruge‘s list as the following: Power élite, Celebrity, Entertainment, Surprise, Bad news, Good news, Magnitude, Relevance, Follow-ups and Media agenda. According to Hall (1973: 182),

―News values appear as a set of neutral, routine practices, but we need, also to see formal news values as an ideological structure—to examine these rules as the formalization and operationalization of an ideology of news.‖

Stanley Johnson and Julian Harriss (1966: 33-37) of the University of Tennessee (USA) were already talking about the ―news values‖ of events before the work of Galtung and Ruge. They were not only concerned with news values but also whether there are any criteria that guide journalists in deciding or selecting the most important news out of the thousands of items. Johnson and Harrison (1966: 39) therefore made the following recommendation:

―News  items  have  intrinsic  characteristics  known  as  news  values  [emphasis  in  the original]. The presence or absence of these values decides its importance and thus guarantees the reader‘s attention. These news values are, therefore, useful measures of  the importance of events. If properly applied, they will determine if an event is news or not.‖

They  argued  that  ―…news  items  compete  for  space  and  may  be  measured  according  to  their comparative importance. They may also be measured according to their intrinsic importance, which determines their length and how they are presented‖ Johnson and Harrison (1966: 39).

In   evaluating  newsworthiness,   Johnson   and   Harrison   proposed   the   following  ―factors   of magnitude‖: 1) the degree of intensity), 2) the number of people affected (range), 3) distance from the event (proximity), 4) time of the event (opportunity), 5) significance of results arising out of the event (consequences) and 6) diversity of news values (Johnson and Harrison, 1966, cited in Jorge, 2008).

In addition to the above, politics (Schulz, 1976; Staab, 1990; Ruhrmann et al., 2003, cited in Eilders, 2006: 8), economics, ownership or organisational policies (Ettema & Whitney, 1987, cited in Cassidy, 2007), pictures/visualness (McGregor, 2002) religion and technological change/accessibility(McGregor, 2002) all have influencing effects on what gets published in a

particular medium for public consumption. Other considerations include the social system, the personality of the news selector and the philosophy of the publisher or owner. Whoever determines the editorial policy of the medium influences directly or indirectly what news items should be selected for publication.

While in the West studies on news values and gatekeeping have been conducted by media researchers such as O‘Neil & Harcup (2001) and Peterson (1979), in Africa and Ghana in particular, not much has been done. That notwithstanding, there has been vast improvement in the media of all kinds selecting and offering news to Ghanaian consumers.

     Background to the study

The history of the press in Ghana has been chequered and marred by decades of political and economic quagmires. Like the press in many African countries, the Ghanaian press abound with instances of state interference in private newspaper publishing. For example, The Pioneer was banned for some time in the 1960s and 1970s by the Convention People‘s Party led by Nkrumah and the National Liberation Council led by Acheampong respectively. The Legon Observer, the Standard, the Christian Messenger and the Echo have all suffered from one political persecution or the other.

As was the culture of the press in most African countries in the colonial era, the Ghanaian media played a pivotal role in the crusade against colonialism. After Ghana‘s independence, the media became the vanguards of opposition to dictatorial rule. However, according to Gadzekpo (2009), the media were also ineffective in their role as the watchdogs over society and political bandits.

The  media  often  functioned  ―as  tools  of  the  succession  of  military  regimes  which  ruled  the country from the mid-1960s through the 1970s and 1980s (ibid: 89).

The first newspaper published in Ghana was The Royal Gold Coast Gazette and Commercial Intelligencer. It was published from 1822 to 1824/5 by Sir Charles McCarthy, governor of the British Gold Coast settlements. This was followed by The Accra Herald which was published by Charles Bannerman in 1857. Bannerman‘s hand-written newspaper was the pioneer of African- owned and edited newspapers in the Gold Coast; thus, a press that was not indebted to the government but ran by private indigenous businesspersons (Gadzekpo, 2009). After 16 years of survival other indigenous newspapers emerged. Among those newspapers were the Gold Coast Times, Western Echo, Gold Coast Assize, Gold Coast News, Gold Coast Aborigines, Gold Coast Chronicle, Gold Coast People, Gold Coast Independent, and Gold Coast Express” (Hasty, 2002).

Newspapers like the Ashanti Pioneer (1938), founded by John and Nancy Tsiboe, the Accra Evening News (1949), founded by Nkrumah; the Daily Graphic (1950) and the Sunday Mirror (1953), founded by Cecil King dominated the media landscape in the mid-60s. Nkrumah established the Guinea Press under which he introduced the state-owned Ghanaian Times in 1958.

Nkrumah bought the Daily Graphic and the Mirror in 1962. With Graphic and Mirror being incorporated into the state apparatus and being backed by the existing party newspapers such as the Accra Evening News, the Daily Gazette and the Sunday Punch, the newspaper scene became state dominated by the time Nkrumah was overthrown in a military coup in 1966.

However, the Ashanti Pioneer remained defiant in the 1950s and the early 1960s until it was finally banned by Nkrumah in 1962.

The Fourth Republican Constitution provided an opportunity for media pluralism and the private media began to rise again. Freedom of expression and media protections are enshrined in the 1992 Constitution. The National Media Commission was established with the chief task of insulating state media from governmental control and ensuring high journalistic quality, thus, vastly improving the regulatory environment for journalists. However, as Kakari (1994: 20, cited in Gadzekpo, 2009) notes, ―in the early years of re-democratisation, the unfettered private press were adjudged as playing a role expected of the independent media under a libertarian, pluralist constitutional system of government; namely … serving as watchdogs of accountability.‖ The content of a number of newspapers fell far short of journalistic standards with some of them publishing outright fictitious stories against public officials and Cabinet members (Kumado, 1995 cited in Gadzekpo, 2009: 98). The goodwill the media have enjoyed in the Fourth Republican Constitution continues today.

  • The Daily Graphic

The Daily Graphic which is a state-owned daily newspaper found itself on the news stand on 2nd October, 1950 as one of a chain of newspapers owned by private interest, the Daily Mirror Group of London. The Daily Graphic and Mirror were not an indigenous effort like the Accra Evening News, Gold Coast Chronicle, Ashanti Pioneer and The Accra Herald. Unlike the local press, the Daily Graphic had access to transnational capital, to modern technology, ran a more efficient business organisation, and demonstrated better journalistic expertise (Hasty, 2002).

The Daily Graphic has carved out a certain niche market based on its distinctive ‗house style‘ (Hasty, 2006). The Daily Graphic has the largest nationwide readership which includes elites who influence government decisions and also make national policies. The newspaper market in Ghana is led by the Daily Graphic which claims a daily circulation of 100.000 copies (www.nationsencyclopedia; 17/09/2012).

Though a state-owned newspaper, the Daily Graphic still operates as an independent newspaper. Appointment of the Board Chairman and the Board Members is however provided for in the Constitution of Ghana and it is done by the National Media Commission in conjunction with the Civil Services Secretariat.

Even though, a cursory look at the front page content of the paper suggests the use of the inverted pyramid, the journalists and the editors are also informed by other factors such as

―national  security,  [one‘s]  condition,  …  personal  relationship  with  sources  of  news‖  (Hasty, 2006) and public interest . Thus, apart from the universal factors of newsworthiness (proximity, newness, controversy, prominence etc.), the Daily Graphic considers other issues that border on national security, peace and unity in selecting news for publication.

Its content includes current affairs, politics, economic issues and foreign news. What is published in the newspaper is carefully chosen during a daily editorial meeting attended by top editors. During the editorial conference, the news editor presents a line-up of the potential page-one news items. The editors then assess the newsworthiness of each news item and which news item to give high prominence to. What is finally given to the Ghanaian consumer is a product of an editorial decision.